Sea Of Faces

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 109, 10 May 1941, Page 1 (Supplement)

Sea Of Faces

! The Parade From The ; Marching Soldier's Angle "That's him . . . no, it isn't.. . yes, I it is . . . Yoo-hoo, hullo, Morry." i And so it was, all the way along j the march. It wasn't always Morry, | of course; it was Jim and Jack, dad | and uncle and—heaven help us— ! Margaret and Rose, and Innumerable ! others, who were the object of the ! adulation of admiring relatives and ) friends in the crowd, as they swung | past in the great cavalcade of Home Defence units. ! To one who has had experience of ! previous military processions, it "was ; a revelation to march through a i dense throng of cheering people, sometimes having barely enough I room to swing the arms for fear of i hitting some of the surging tide of j ! humanity that thronged the road, packing in as closely as possible, but j ; always under control of the übiquitj ous policemen. | For once the Auckland crowd was I really awakened out of the apathy i i which it usually shows on such occasions. The marching man, even though | I keeping his head and eyes strictly to ; the front, was conscious of thousands j j upon thousands of white faces—so ! many that before long they seemed i ! to merge into an ever-moving sea on j , '■ either side. I ' But there were some who stood j ■ out. There was the Maori who; interspersed his singing of "Maori Battalion"—to the detriment of the' : keeping of step—with his calling for' i "one for the boys"; and there was the j , elderly woman at the Grafton Bridge- ] „, Karangahape Road intersection who % j took it into her head to join in the l -; parade, much to the delight of the - crowd, and to the embarrassment of "' a certain highly-placed officer; t of course, there was that blonde half ' way down Queen Street. 11 Even the most blase of the men and women taking part in the . • parade, however, could not help feeli ing a thrill as wave upon wave of . cheers and applause rose up from the crowd, and streamers were flown ; ■ across the points of the glittering i bayonets. It was a thrill that made up for all the agony in the left

shoulder resulting from the long ffff holding of the rifle at the slope, and fftfl the burning pain in the heel where a Jjih| hole had been rubbed in the stocking. Ijfl There were no complaints from warn the marchers; unless one counts the |;f|s mild protests from members of the itSs 3rd Auckland Battalion, who were liM slightly annoyed that everybody IgH seemed to be looking past them at Sill the Scotties in their new Black Kj| I Watch tartan kilts. fM